Cantijong Cave and Fishyallan

Overview

Cantijong Cave and Fishyallan is a two-chamber cave system in Barangay Cansague Sur, San Isidro, Bohol. The cave is situated approximately 400 metres from the barangay centre, at the foot of a hill within a timberland area. The lower cave has a depth of 150 metres with a passage extending through to the opposite side of the hill; an underground water channel flows through it and supports a population of freshwater fish. The upper cave, located approximately 70 steps higher, has a depth of 100 metres and a large interior; it runs parallel to the lower chamber. Python snakes have been reported in the area. The upper cave is home to bats and birds, with knee-deep accumulations of guano used locally as fertiliser.

Location

Barangay Cansague Sur, San Isidro, Bohol. San Isidro is in northwest Bohol, near Tubigon and Calape.

Getting There

From Tagbilaran City, travel northwest toward San Isidro via the Tubigon or Calape road. From San Isidro town proper, proceed to Barangay Cansague Sur — approximately 400 metres from the barangay centre to the cave entrance. [TO ENRICH: confirm road type and whether a local guide is required or recommended]

Practical Info

• Two cave chambers: lower (150 m deep, through-passage to opposite hillside) and upper (100 m deep, large interior).
• Underground water and freshwater fish are present in the lower cave.
• Guano deposits in the upper cave are reportedly used as fertiliser by local residents.
• Python snakes have been observed in the surrounding timberland area.
• [TO ENRICH: entrance fee, guide availability, lighting equipment requirements, safety conditions]

What to Expect

The access trail runs through timberland shade, and the cave interior is unlit — bring a light source. The lower chamber’s flowing water and live fish set it apart from Bohol’s typical dry caves; the upper chamber’s bat and bird colony is the source of the guano deposits used locally as fertiliser.

Notes

• The name “Fishyallan” likely refers to the freshwater fish found in the underground water cave — [FACT NEEDED: confirm etymology or local meaning].
• San Isidro municipality also includes Candungao Peak and Kilab-Kilab Falls.
• The Tubigon port provides the nearest inter-island ferry connection for travellers arriving from Cebu.
• An independent 2011 news source corroborates the cave’s location in Barangay Cansague Sur and the presence of bats and a local python snake (locally “baksan”) in the cave, matching this file’s description; the same source lists San Isidro’s road access to Tagbilaran City as running via Antequera, Catigbian, or Candungao. Entrance fee, guide availability, and lighting requirements did not turn up in a genuine search of current sources — the [TO ENRICH] tags for those points are left in place, as is the Fishyallan etymology tag.
• 2026-07-28 follow-up pass: tried fresh angles beyond the 2011 English-language news search — (1) a public Facebook group post titled “Cantijong cave in San Isidro, Bohol” was located (facebook.com/groups/1614161002771753/posts/2051066859081163/) but its body text is not accessible without group membership/login, only the title surfaced; (2) searched Cebuano-language terms (“lungib”, “langub”, “bayad” for cave/fee) — no results specific to Cantijong; (3) checked CENRO San Isidro, the Bohol provincial government’s San Isidro municipal page (bohol.gov.ph), and bohol-philippines.com’s San Isidro page directly — none mention Cantijong Cave or Fishyallan at all; (4) checked Wanderlog and Google Maps-review search results for the cave — no dedicated listing found (Wanderlog only has separate pages for Candungao Peak and San Isidro Sunrise View in the same barangay); (5) tried a second historical source, the Bohol Sunday Post’s “San Isidro hitches into tourism bandwagon” (discoverbohol.com/bsp/2012/0408-12/San-Isidro-0408-12.htm) via both direct fetch and web.archive.org — both attempts failed (SSL certificate mismatch on the live site; Claude Code’s fetch tool cannot reach web.archive.org); (6) searched road-condition terms (“Cansague Sur” + concrete/unpaved/habal-habal) — no location-specific results. None of these surfaced entrance fee, guide requirement, lighting equipment, safety conditions, road-surface type, or Fishyallan etymology. All three [TO ENRICH]/[FACT NEEDED] tags remain in place; a future pass should try joining/searching within the Facebook group directly (requires a logged-in session, out of scope for this tool), or attempt the discoverbohol.com article via a different fetch method that tolerates its certificate mismatch.

Bohol’s town pushes for eco-tourism development — Philstar.com, accessed 2026-07-17.